Living with Windows (Lifehacker)
Originally posted 2006-06-02 03:53:07
I came across this that explains how to make Windows a little more Unix-like. The first hint tells you to turn off the desktop icons and turn on the Desktop toolbar. I have a small collection of icons on my desktop. It’s the worst place I can think of to put them, except for any other place, so I live with them there and have to periodically click on Show Desktop or move a slew of windows to the right to access them. This tip’s a keeper.
As a long-time Cygwin disciple, I appreciate the love expressed. The Worker file manager mentioned didn’t excite me, however–I’ve been using PowerDesk Pro since version 1.0, when it was made by a company called Mijenix, and I also have WinNc.Net, though I haven’t yet reloaded it since I got my new laptop a year ago. Hmmm . . . thanks for the reminder! Both these file managers give me the dual pane Norton-Commander functionality, plus so much more, that I don’t need Worker on my Windows box.
My iBook, however, could probably use something like that. You’ll notice that no one in Mac world brags about Finder. I bought Path Finder soon after I got my Mac, and have never regretted it (bonus: when I looked up the URL to make the link for this blog entry, I found I was 0.10 versions behind–downloading the update now!). It’s a much better file manager than Finder, but it has no dual-pane, Norton-Commander functionality. \”Aha, \” I thought, \”I’ll load Worker on my iBook.\” I noticed a link on the Worker page for Mac OS X, so I followed it to discover that I should be able to load it through fink, so I tried \”fink install worker.’ No dice: package not found. No problem–download the source and compile. The standard \”./configure && make && make install\” went without a hitch, and I fired up Worker. The first thing I tried to do was delete a file (the Xcode 2.3 install image) by highlighting it and pressing F8. Nothing. Ignoring sense, I pounded F8 a few more times, garnering the same results. I then lost interest. Life’s too short. On a whim, I used fink to install Midnight Commander, but instead of a lightning-fast text-mode file manager, it was a sluggish text-mode file manager. I’ll stick with Path Finder for now.
And no, I didn’t load WindowMaker. I’m one of the few that LIKE the Windows XP Playskool look.